Tag Archives: Sabbath

I’ve heard it said from my friend and coworker, Marty Solomon, “we are human beings, no human doings.” The very idea of this comes from the first chapter of Genesis ”

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.”

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and wall the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”

Not only were we created in the image of God himself, but before Adam had a chance to do anything or produce anything, God says it was very good. In our day, good is just kind of meh, it’s not great, just okay. In the text good is great but very good is greater than great! And it is this way not based on anything else other than who we are and whose we are. It’s not about what we do, it never has been.

After being in Egypt for 400 years this was the first message Moses delivered to Israel. They are a rescued nation of slaves who have been making bricks for 400 years They have been told that their entire value and worth is wrapped up in what they are able to produce. This God comes and the first story He tells them is a story is an invitation to take a break — a Sabbath — and rest.

He insists that creation — themselves in particular — is good.He invites them to stop working and trust that they are loved, valued and accepted just because of who they ARE — not for what they DO. God invites the ancient Israelites to see the world through a new set of lenses. He invites them to believe that He sees them as GOOD — made in the image of the Creator. He tells them to quit trying to find their value in what they are able to do and produce. But instead, they should stop working and REST.

He tells them, over and over again, that the story is good.And He invites them to trust the story. (Borrowed from Marty’s Blog)

A message we need to hear over and over again, it’s not about what we do it’s about who we are. Made in God’s image, called to a weekly rest from normal daily activity to remember this message. Our jobs, our college or high school classes do not give us our identity. Our identity is found in the image of God, not because of what we do but because we are created. We rest as a way to remember and reflect on God’s love for us, that it is dependent on nothing, simply because we exist by his hand. Is your identity found in what you do or who you are?

Nothing is as refreshing as a good summer thunderstorm. Here in Indiana, we are under drought conditions so that makes a storm with a good amount of rain priceless for area farmers. the thing about it is that a hard rain is so cool and refreshing in the midst of a string of 90-100 degree days. Today it reminds of the need for a Sabbath day.

At Impact Campus Ministries, we are not only encouraged but required to take personal retreat days once a month. We cannot truly be effect in ministry if we aren’t taking time out to stay connected with God and to stay fresh… and to rest.

Rest is not a common word in “normal” ministry. While most people view Sunday as a day off, even if they go to church, for a minister it is a work day. Still a day of worship, but wether you are a worship minister, youth minister, preaching minister, or some other title, being a minister is exhausting. In campus ministry, investing in the lives of students is a rewarding opportunity that requires us to stay fresh. Even with “personal retreat days” once a month, it is necessary to take a regular Sabbath where you are connecting with the creator and getting physical rest.

Summer is almost here. While the nights are still cool, the days are warming up to comfortable sunny temperature, this is the part of summer I love. This is also the time where it becomes easy to have the “summer slump”. Routines from the school year are gone, bible studies and student groups don’t meet so it becomes a slow fade from regular bible study and prayer to erratic and sparse habits. I believe this is the case for many of us as the business of summer crowds our spiritual walk. In fact, I believe we can completely forget the Sabbath altogether.

I am not saying we forget church, but we allow Sunday’s to be busy so we don’t take a day to allow our bodies to rest and spend some extra time with Abba. That was the purpose of the Sabbath. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy was handed down to the Israelites because they needed to rest. They were slaves and did not know what it was like to have a day of rest. What have we become slaves too? What makes us so busy that we can’t quiet ourselves before the throne?

For me, my summer has just recently slowed down. I got taken out at the knees, literally. I will spend the next few weeks recuperating from surgery for torn cartilage and a torn ACL that had been reconstructed once already. A forced slow down… there are apparently some things I need to learn, including how to rest in the arms of Abba.

Stay out of the summer slump, take time to rest and don’t slack in the spiritual restoration of the Word and prayer.